By 
Tyrone 0-18 Down 1-11
THE McKenna Cup might not count for much in the wider scheme of things, but Tyrone have still held up to their end of the bargain thus far by accounting for Down in testing conditions at Pomeroy on Sunday.
Successive group stage victories represent a promising start to the season, and now they’ll participate in the semi-finals of the competition this coming Wednesday, where they will take on Monaghan.
It was decent enough fare on a blustery day at Plunkett Park. Four more lads made their senior intercounty debut – Ethan Jordan, Ruairi McCullagh, Joey Clarke and Shane Hughes. For that alone, the McKenna Cup has been a worthwhile endeavour.
24 players in total saw game-time yesterday, not a million miles away from a rolling subs scenario, though that comes with the caveat that two starters – Ruairi Canavan and Niall Devlin – were taken off with injuries early doors.
There were ample positives to take from the display and with 10 minutes remaining Tyrone were threatening to run away with it, but back-to-back two-pointers from Down’s Pat Havern kept the home side on their toes until the referee called time on proceedings. Still, it was a thoroughly deserved win.
Tyrone conjured up a goal chance in the opening minute of play; an Aidan Clarke turnover paving the way for a sweeping attacking move involving Conn Kilpatrick and a clever Ruairi Canavan flickdown before Michael Conroy’s effort was negated by last-ditch Down defending. Canavan was forced off shortly thereafter with Ruairi McCullagh entering the fray.
Ronan Cassidy ghosted through for the opening point of the day but Down enjoyed a period of relative supremacy as they opened up a 0-3 to 0-1 lead by the 13th minute. Donal Scullion blasted over the goal at his mercy preceding a Pat Havern brace from the dead ball, and Tyrone were dealt another blow in between times when Niall Devlin traipsed off with injury.
He was replaced by his Coalisland clubmate Michael McKernan, who became increasingly influential as the half wore on, winning a number of turnovers, but Tyrone shot themselves in the foot so to speak with a sequence of wayward efforts making for frustrating viewing. To be fair, a quick glance at the flags told a story about the nature of the conditions, an unforgiving breeze no doubt contributing to their profligacy.
That said, some of the shot-selection could have been better though debutant Joey Clarke set a shining example when he shrugged off a hefty shoulder before clipping over Tyrone’s second of the day from close-range.
The visitors made it 0-4 to 0-2 on the scoreboard via Adam Crimmons following a purposeful pass into space from his teammate Ryan McEvoy, one of two starters from Kilcoo, while Tyrone continued to spurn some decent opportunities down the other end of the pitch.
Malachy O’Rourke’s side enjoyed a purple patch down the stretch though, outscoring their opponents by 0-4 to 0-1 at the tail-end of the half. Michael Conroy polished off a sweeping move and Ethan Jordan was on hand to convert after enterprising build-up play, Conroy getting his hand to the ball to flick on after a superb diagonal pass from McKernan.
Daniel Guinness split the posts but Tyrone were growing in confidence and a Jordan free was followed by a superb two-point from Conroy, belying the testing conditions with a lackadaisical swing of the boot.
So Tyrone led 0-7 to 0-5 at the break and started the second half strongly with further scores from Conroy and Jordan. Down came back into contention, however, when Donal Scullion roofed it to the net from the penalty spot after Aidan Clarke was adjudged to have pushed John McGeogh.
Second-half sub Mattie Donnelly split the posts following good work from Kilpatrick, and after Down’s latest point, the Red Hands started to really motor with a string of scores.
Donnelly nailed another eye-catching effort before the impressive Ethan Jordan raised an orange flag with a brilliant effort from a long-range free. Frank Burns and Joe Oguz combined for another score, this time from Aodhan Donaghy, leaving it 0-14 to 1-6, and Down were looking increasingly under the cosh. A matter of a few minutes later, Tyrone had extended their advantage to a full nine points after Burns and Conroy split the posts.
The Mourne men were struggling to find any sort of groove but to their credit they fought the good fight in the final ten minutes. Havern, something of a dead ball specialist, found the target from a two-point free, and he replicated the feat from open play, an audacious effort that left a goal between the teams.
Havern’s confidence must have been sky high at this point and he expertly steered over a free from a desperately tricky angle with five minutes remaining. Tyrone still had the advantage on the scoreboard and after two skewed efforts, Joe Oguz did the needful after patient build-up play.
With four minutes of injury time called for, the outcome wasn’t entirely beyond doubt, but Tyrone had the final say when Jordan popped over a free shortly after Ceilum Doherty was dismissed in the dying embers of the contest. Tyrone march on and it’s early days – very early days – but it’s still a case of so far, so good.
Scorers
Tyrone: Ethan Jordan (0-6, 1 2pt f, 2f), Michael Conroy (0-5, 1 2pt, 2f), Mattie Donnelly (0-2), Aodhan Donaghy, Ronan Cassidy, Joe Oguz, Frank Burns and Joey Clarke (0-1 each)
Down: Pat Havern (0-7, 3f, 1 2pt, 1 2pt f), Donal Scullion (1-1), Ryan McEvoy, Daniel Guinness, Adam Crimmins (0-1 each)
Teams
Tyrone: Niall Morgan, Aidan Clarke, Rory Brennan, Michael Rafferty, Joey Clarke, Niall Devlin, Seanie O’Donnell, Conn Kilpatrick, Joe Oguz, Conor O’Neill, Ronan Cassidy, Ruairi Canavan, Matthew Og McGleenan,, Michael Conroy, Ethan Jordan. Subs: Ruairi McCullagh for Canavan, Michael McKernan for Devlin, Mattie Donnelly for Cassidy, Shane Hughes for Rafferty, Cormac Quinn for Clarke, Frank Burns for O’Donnell, Aodhan Donaghy for McGleenan, Peter McCaughey for Brennan, Nathan McCarron for Conroy
Down: Ronan Burns, Ryan McEvoy, Pierce Laverty, Pearse McPolin, Ryan Magill, Finn Murdock, Paddy McCarthy, Daniel Guinness, Tom Close, Donal Scullion, Pat Havern, John McGeogh, Peter Fegan, Ceilum Doherty, Adam Crimmins. Subs: Miceal Rooney for Crimmins, Patrick Brooks for Murdock, Callum Rogers for Magill
